Wispypaw I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere
But you can't catch me now + she/her + No purrks
The itch to go pick apart some poor cat was underneath her darkened fur, she wanted to see some cat crack apart. She already tried to do so with one cat, a much older one than her who had earned her name early she supposed. She hadn't seemed to fall for her tricks and instead chose to do the same with her. That was no fun for her because she liked to do so with the intention of understanding some of these cats around here. Especially the ones she shared a den with that would be excluding her siblings of course. Listening more to the mingling of cats, she couldn't tell if there was someone who didn't sound busy. Wispypaw huffed as she stood up to her full height and made her choice for now. If she couldn't pick apart someone then she'd do some training. She knew just the right one to go to for training, not only get the best training but also she would get to spend some time with them too! Right away she sniffed out the warrior's den easily, why did they all smell so strongly!? Wispypaw stood close to the entrance of the den but she wasn't right at the mouth of the den since she couldn't distinguish all the mixed scents coming from the den very well.
"Ma? You here? I want to get ahead of my training" there she goes hoping that she was correct in assuming Lostspark was either in the den or around it.
Lostspark had been watching her daughter (one of the only who remained now) from her perch high in the branches of the three that overlooked ShadowClan's camp. Her ears pricked as Wispypaw's voice reached them, though most of it was muffled beside the end. Something about training.
If Wispypaw was poking around the warrior's den - if she had to go look for her mentor - they didn't deserve to train her anyway. Stretching, scratching the bark beneath her claws for a moment, Lostspark jumped down from her ledge and trotted over to her daughter, ducking her head to hopefully nuzzle her daughter. "Wispypaw. Come along, then. I don't know who you were looking for in there, but surely they won't mind if I steal you away for training instead."
Wispypaw I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere
But you can't catch me now + she/her + No purrks
To say that they were startled was an understatement, it had her jumped with her fur puffed up. They were about to shoot around and snap at whoever it was that dared to scare her like that. Well, it was their plan till she took a minute to recognize the scent in front of them and then feel the nuzzling. "Ma!" look at them getting excited like that, normally she wouldn't act like this in front of the other morons in the clan. Yet this was her mother, someone else in the family she was more willing to let loose with. "Interesting enough I was looking for you, didn't know you weren't in that smelly den" she responded back.
Lostspark peered at her daughter. "I sleep up in that tree." She murmured after a moment, signaling with her tail. With that out of the way, Lostspark found a smile blooming on her face at the apprentice's admission that she'd been looking for her.
"Good to know, darling." She laughed softly, and then attempted to lick Wispypaw's ear briefly. "You made me smile, I'll have you know." Because the black and grey apprentice was blind, and Lostspark knew all too well that feeling. Being unable to see anything at all, unable to scan the facial expressions' of others.
"So, what did ya want to learn? Anything specific?"
[ @Kix - Wispypaw | Sticking to she/her pronouns for Wispy cuz that's what the header says but :squint: lmk if you want me to change it ]
Wispypaw I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere
But you can't catch me now + she/her + No purrks
"It's nice knowing I'm not the only one to avoid sleeping in a den!"
They had no idea where their mother was pointing to but one could guess it was to a nearby tree in camp. Wispypaw could imagine their mother sleeping somewhere else, these dens did feel crowded. Seeing as they slept somewhere else themselves, the paw didn't feel like being crowded while sleeping. Wispypaw let a low purr from either the affection given to them or the news that they made their mom smile. "It's far better to be happy than to be mopey it leaves you with a better outlook ahead!" Plus they didn't like how that family meeting had gone and how everyone sounded so angry or upset towards whom they assumed was their parents. Shame on them they almost forgot what they were seeking their mom for in the first place. "I want to learn how to be sneaky, feel like being stealthy is my kind of taste"
@Rose [that's fine with me! Wispy hasn't come out yet about wanting they and them to be used yet anyway! ]
Header made by Marigold
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Any actions or words said by my characters are not a reflection of how I feel!!
Activity going to be extra low, dealing with moving issues
A stealth lesson, that was what her daughter wanted. Lostspark took the words in stride, gently aiming to wrap her tail around Wispypaw's shoulders to help steer her daughter (unless this had been done prior, in which case Lostspark's roleplayer is just forgetful and the action can go ignored).
Only once they'd reached a particularly darkened clearing did Lostspark halt, turning to face her 'daughter'. "I will be frank with you, Wispypaw. You don't learn stealth, you become stealthy. With practice comes whatever our minds deem as perfection." Lostspark stepped forward (and attempted) to tip Wispypaw's chin upwards with a gentle paw. "Wispypaw, I know you are blind, and I know... the blame of your lack of sight is on my shoulders. But I hope you'll know you can always come to me. I am your mother, though not a great one. I love you, alright? I can never not love my children, adopted or otherwise."
She lowered her white-tipped paw, returning it to the ground, and ducked her head to rasp her tongue lovingly over the tuft of fur on her kit's head. "Know that you are as wonderful as all your littermates - all your siblings, and you have just as much potential as they do."
That said, Lostspark moved to stand beside Wispypaw. "To begin... we'll have to do this a bit differently. The first thing about stealth is knowing your surroundings. Claws in, steps light. I know you can't see, but you can hear, you can smell, you can feel which way the wind is blowing, which way your scent is carrying."
[ @Kix - Wispypaw | I completely missed this mention, I'm so sorry. Also !! for the 'powerplay' stuff I didn't know how to word it without repeating 'attempted to' over and over again so you had have Wispy side-step/etc those if you wish! ]
Wispypaw Wash him deep where the tides are turning + she/her + No purrks
The feel of a tail wrapping around their shoulders was what brought their attention back to the forefront. When had they spaced out in between their last spoken words and to them moving forward? At least they hadn’t run into an embarrassing act during their little moment, if so they might as well have died on the spot. The moment of silence was leaving the paw wanting to say something, didn’t know what but the quietness was leaving them on edge. It appeared that they were thinking too early since they perked their ears at the sound of their moms voice speaking. Flick of their tail they allowed their chin to be moved, if it was someone else they might of bite their paws off. Wispypaw was about to respond but stopped when she had continued, you don’t learn stealth? Guess that made sense, that left them wondering if they had a chance of being good at stealth.
Did they hear that correctly? What did ma mean by all of that, was she trying to take the blame for their blindness? ”I love you too but by are you saying it like the blame is on you for me being blind? If we want to play a blame game then I’d say it's nature's fault for throwing a handicap at me, besides being blind doesn’t prevent me from being the best after all I was able to learn how to hunt!” their eyes furrowed in thought. Wispypaw didn’t want to overthink it but simultaneously their curiosity screamed to them to dig. They let out a huff, the paw did not doubt that, though they felt they were better than some of their other siblings. That would be a bunch of worms to unleash if they spoke that out loud in front of certain siblings, two of which were at the top of their head. "So kind of like hunting but without the use of claws" they remarked, blind gaze staring ahead of them.
@Rose [ I'm fine with pp on small stuff like that honestly! ]
Header made by Marigold
__________________
Any actions or words said by my characters are not a reflection of how I feel!!
Activity going to be extra low, dealing with moving issues
Wispypaw Wash him deep where the tides are turning + she/her + No purrks
The feel of a tail wrapping around their shoulders was what brought their attention back to the forefront. When had they spaced out in between their last spoken words and to them moving forward? At least they hadn’t run into an embarrassing act during their little moment, if so they might as well have died on the spot. The moment of silence was leaving the paw wanting to say something, didn’t know what but the quietness was leaving them on edge. It appeared that they were thinking too early since they perked their ears at the sound of their moms voice speaking. Flick of their tail they allowed their chin to be moved, if it was someone else they might of bite their paws off. Wispypaw was about to respond but stopped when she had continued, you don’t learn stealth? Guess that made sense, that left them wondering if they had a chance of being good at stealth.
Did they hear that correctly? What did ma mean by all of that, was she trying to take the blame for their blindness? ”I love you too but by are you saying it like the blame is on you for me being blind? If we want to play a blame game then I’d say it's nature's fault for throwing a handicap at me, besides being blind doesn’t prevent me from being the best after all I was able to learn how to hunt!” their eyes furrowed in thought. Wispypaw didn’t want to overthink it but simultaneously their curiosity screamed to them to dig. They let out a huff, the paw did not doubt that, though they felt they were better than some of their other siblings. That would be a bunch of worms to unleash if they spoke that out loud in front of certain siblings, two of which were at the top of their head. "So kind of like hunting but without the use of claws" they remarked, blind gaze staring ahead of them.
@Rose [ I'm fine with pp on small stuff like that honestly! ]
She wished… wished… no. The wishing had long been over. The depression she’d fought tooth and nail against to leave behind. The crippling self-doubt, the uneasiness that left her unsteady. The surety that everyone would have been better off had she not had kits, had she not accepted the Medicine Cat position, had she denied Darkfall, had she never joined ShadowClan.
On and on and on it had gone, spiraling out of control. Until she’d put a stop to it. But one wish still remained. “I wish I was brave enough to tell you and your siblings why I take so much blame for your conditions.” She wished she wasn’t so selfish, to hold back this information. Because the truth was this — there was already a tightrope line she walked on with her kin. It only seemed to continue to thin sometimes - she had never really been given respite. It hurt to see that cats who paid less attention to their families received more affection from them in return than she did.
Yes, she had committed so much wrong, so many misdeeds. Was it enough to deny her the large, loving and happy family she’d always craved. Enough to damn her forever? To always be a part of a broken mess, never able to find real happiness? To substitute fleeting moments of affection for the love she craved?
Perhaps, they would come to appreciate her only after she was gone. Maybe it was written in the stars that she’d live her life surrounded yet alone, and face her doom alone but valued afterward, when it was far too late. Alas, none of this Lostspark knew just yet — for had she known, she would have put in more effort than ever to spend all her time with her family.
Swallowing roughly, Lostspark closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to recede so that it would not trickle into her voice when she spoke. So that her voice would not break and crumble like her heart had too many times before to count. “Hunting without the use of claws, just like that.” She agreed hoarsely, letting out a slow breath and reopening her eyes, storing away all her hurt in the same terrible habit that tore her open every time. “You’ll get the hang of it with practice, love. No one gets it their first try. I’m so proud of you for putting so much dedication into your training.”
Wispypaw Wash him deep where the tides are turning + she/her[they/them to those she has told] + Heightened Perception [hearing, active]
On other occasions, they'd be able to somewhat read another's words and get a gist of their current emotion, yet they were a bit dumbfounded. Yet they tried to do the same with their mother, listening to them speak before throwing their own two cents in. Wispypaw could tell that mother seemed to have some sort of regret about something, huh conditions? What in the living hell did she mean by that, last they checked health conditions were some sort of genetic issue. Or more seemed like one had to be born unlucky to get handicapped from birth, they were still mad about that. They had counted it lucky to be born into a family related to the leader in some way but of course that was too much luck and their eyes had to pay the price. So they had already accepted their blindness as a part of nature, yet mother seemed to imply something else. "What are you afraid to say out loud?" they question without a thought, no second thought on the question. The paw controlled their facial expression and didn't make a move to take back what they asked, in their eyes they made no mistakes. Wispypaw hadn't really wanted to ask the question at the moment but their curiosity had won this small battle.
If only wispypaw wasn't such a brick wall with their actual emotions, they would be more inclined to show how much they love their parents. They might have a favoritism seeing as one parent was being a major weirdo right now, but don't get them started. This argumentative apprentice hadn't been so quick to judge and despise their parents as some of their littermates. Their anger at the lack of attention from mother hadn't been directed to her but towards those who took it from them. Bleedingpaw had been an exception, he was free from their ire, even if they wouldn't admit it out loud they were one of the better siblings. He alongside sleepy and Cinder were probably the only siblings they'd be chill with till the day they died. Others were a bit iffy, birdpaw's constant copying of other voices not only creeped them out but left them confused half the time.
Wispypaw stared ahead, hopefully in their mother's direction just to show they were indeed still showing attention. Their answer had been right, hah, of course it was! Wispypaw wasn't like some of the other basic apprentices, unlike them, they were sure to use their brain and common sense even in training. "Hah, I'll ace doing this just like I did with hunting! Just you wait, I'll soon be getting my warrior name in no time!" they at least hoped they would be getting their full name soon, the paw in their name was getting a tad old at this point.
Grow up [p]
